ESEE Junglas — Quick Review

Several years ago, I purchased an ESEE Junglas. I initially decided to get the Junglas for my emergency go bag. It is a rather large knife, measuring in at 16.5″, but I thought it would be a good tool to have in case of a disaster or emergency. I have found so many more uses for this knife since my initial purchase.

About a month after I picked up my Junglas, I decided I needed to give it a good trial run to make sure it was as sturdy and durable as I thought. I figured the worst case scenario would be to get it out in an actual emergency and realize it wasn’t the all around tool I had initially thought. To put it through its paces, I first picked one of our peach trees out back. I hadn’t properly pruned the tree for a couple of years and because of this, it was a bit out of control. The tree had several 1″ to 2″ limbs that needed to be removed. Sure, I could have just pulled out the pruners and taken care of business like normal people do, but I had a Junglas and I was on a mission to use it. I took a few tentative whacks on the first limb. To my delight, even though I wasn’t putting my all into the swing, the blade sliced neatly into the branch. With just a few strikes, I had the first job done. I spent the next five or ten minutes “pruning” the larger branches that needed to be removed.

Ours never grew so nice!

Delighted with the performance of my new ESEE Junglas, I moved on to a row of three Nishiki Willow trees that my wife had decided to remove. When we first planted these trees, they were perfect. Over time, they grew a bit larger around than we expected. They were also shorter than we had thought they would be. This combination of larger around and shorter made them into path bullies–they crowded our stone path and made it so everyone walking into the backyard had to duck and dodge to avoid the branches. So I got the assignment to remove the trees. The trunks were between 5″ and 8″ thick. One of the trees never really got very strong, the other two had better growing conditions and had larger trunks.

So I readied myself and chopped the first tree down. The wood was dense and very wet. Not the best cutting conditions for any tool. The Junglas powered through with little difficulty. I took several swings at the trunk and quickly had cut a nice notch in the direction I wanted the tree to fall. I switched sides on the trunk and with a few swings was able to cut the tree down. It took only a few minutes. Much less time than it would have taken to pull my chainsaw out, oil and prep it, start it up and cut the tree down.

The ESEE Junglas Survival knife is more of a machete than it is a knife. Built with a 1095 steel blade featuring a black powder coat, the blade swings nice and easy. The balance is perfect. I have used a few machetes in my life and many of them are either weighted strange so they swing weird or they are not designed for maximum comfort. The Junglas not only lends itself to a smooth swing, the contoured handle makes it comfortable to use for prolonged periods of time.

If you are looking for a quality, large sized knife for your survival kit or even for a bit of backyard work, check out the ESEE Junglas. You will be glad you did.